Monday, October 10, 2011

Weekend Recap and a Short Monday Run

This weekend, I did many fun fall things in the Virginia countryside to celebrate my friend Julie's 25th birthday. I road tripped out with her and then met lots of new people.

Having burned 770 calories on Saturday morning's run, I had no guilt about consuming A LOT. So that's what I did.

We started with salted caramel soft serve and fried oreos.

Then we had my favorite thing of all time: cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.

We tasted wine at Rappahanock Cellars.

We picked pumpkins and apples. I bought half a bushel and ate my first one of the season. And now I have about fifty more to eat before they spoil. I see lots of baked apple desserts in my future. And I see lots of fruit sharing with my friends.

Then we ate a big fancy dinner at Julie's house, played board games, laughed a ton, and made s'mores by the bonfire. I created a Reese's s'more, replacing the hershey's bar with a reese's peanut butter cup and it was revolutionary. Seriously, try it.

I slept long and sound and dreamt about running in the rain on the country roads by the house. I woke up around 9 and everyone was still asleep. The sky looked beautiful and there was no rain in sight. I considered suiting up and running on the hills outside. But I curled back up in bed, slept for two more hours, and woke up to the smell of pumpkin pancakes and omelets. So I hung out with the group and ate. I hadn't planned a Sunday run, anyway, but kinda wanted to take advantage of the rare opportunity to run outside of the city. Food and sleep were more important at the time, though, and I know there will be more opportunities.

After hanging out for a few hours, we headed home, stopping at one more winery on our way.

Normally, at the end of such a lovely weekend, I'd feel a little bummed, and I would not want to get up and go to work on Monday. But today I discovered that I'd rather it be Monday and five days from the Baltimore Running Festival than Friday and eight days from it. So today was a good Monday. Until around 3 PM when I got a really bad headache. Not wanting to miss my planned 3-4 mile run, I came home and decided to do a short one instead. I only ran 2.38 miles but I overcompensated by picking up the pace. One last speedy run before the big day.

And, as always, I made sure to get some good hills in there.

I wore a new shirt I got on super sale from Nordstrom Rack. I didn't try it on and it is a little tight on me. I also think it's a tennis shirt, but it was cute and cheap so I couldn't pass it up. It kept riding up, as did my rarely-worn-running booty shorts. Today, sweating in a new style didn't do so well for me. I think I'll stick to my tempo shorts and dri-fit tees for now.

I came home in my too-tight gear and stretched my muscles out. Stretching, sleeping, and eating are my priorities this week. So Josh and I made a hearty dinner of tomato pasta with sausage, mushrooms and cheese. And now all I need is a good night's sleep.

I hope everyone had great weekends and that you weren't too sad to see them end. Tell me: How often do you stretch? What are your priorities in the last week before a big race? How can I use up half a bushel of apples before they go bad?

4 comments:

I am planning a trip out to VA wine country sometime soon! I need to get a move on before it gets too cold. I LOVE eating cheese when I drink wine, especially if it's something that I would never buy at the store...gives me an excuse for fancy cheese.

Maybe your new shirt will stretch out after a while? Lol. I tend to buy cheap workout gear that is made for another sport...as long as it can cover my body, it is winner in my book.

I have been stretching more consistently lately since my back is always feeling like a pretzel. I stretch for about 10 minutes after every run and then if I'm still feeling tight, I do a quick stretch right before bed.

Before a race, I try not to eat out at all, and I cook all my meals. I also go to bed super early and skip out early from any social events.

Apple muffins or cupcakes are a good idea! Do you have a juicer or blender? Maybe you can a drink out of them.